Successful reconstruction at the foot of Himalaya

German Nepal aide body in school opening celebrations

Representatives from Nepalhilfe Beilngries, a charity based in southern Germany, recently took a ten-day tour of Nepal and attended a number of ceremonies marking the success of numerous aid efforts. Claudia Thumann, the charity’s treasurer, and Michaela Michael Rebele visited a significant number of projects in Terai, the region including Kathmandu, and Sindhupalchok district, which had been a focus of the organisation ever since 2015’s devastating earthquake.

New district hospital

In Kawasoti/Terai, Nepahilfe has helped build a new district hospital, co-financing the facility together with the Nepalese government and Nawalpur administrative district. Construction is set to take five years, and the foundations have already been laid. When it is completed, the building will rise up five stories over an area 70 by 30 metres and abut the existing Midpoint District Hospital, which Nepalhilfe has been providing significant funding for since 2014. The visitors from Bavaria also handed over a blood bank connected to the Red Cross, which cost 35,000 euros. The facility had long been awaited as it now fills a gap previously existing between the two cities of Bharatput and Butwal.

Rehabilitated schools commissioned

The main event of two days in Sindhupalchok District, 80 kms to the north of Kathmandu, was the commissioning of replacement structures for two schools destroyed in the earthquake in Kadambas and Melchaur. Shree Kali Devi School (Michl-Dacher-Schule) and Ryan Mandir Higher Secondary School were familiar venues for Michaela and Michael Rebele as the two of them had been present at the commissioning of the original school buildings in 1995 and 2013, respectively. The three visitors also called at five other educational facilities which had either been completed for some time or were at least scheduled for completion soon. According to Sanjay Sapkota, the engineer in charge, replacements for all 14 damaged school buildings should be completed by year’s end and conform to most recent safety standards. The schools now need to be supplied with the necessary implements so classes can begin on schedule. The visitors from Germany also handed over a cheque for 13,000 euros to help pay for purchase of an ambulance.

Charitable pharmacy and computer room

The visit to the charitable pharmacy at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu and the Religious Sisters in Lubhu took the trio back to the beginnings of Nepalhilfe. Karl Rebele, then president of Nepalhilfe, had been the initiator of the ties to both institutions, and Nepalhilfe has been supporting them ever since. Claudia Thumann, whose day job is pharmacy assistant, took a particular interest in the pharmacy’s storage facilities. These supply almost 100 patients every day. In addition, the pharmacy conducts monthly health camps in the area, enabling it to reach out to another 700 patients. 

As part of the visit, the Religious Sisters at St. Mary’s received a commitment of continued financial support for daily school lunches through the new school year. This has become possible thanks also to generous sponsors.

In addition, Michaela Rebele and Claudia Thumann handed over a newly equipped computer room with 30 PC units to the Sisters. Nepalhilfe had financed the facility twelve years ago, but time had since come for renewal of the technology. Shaligram Hospital in the immediate vicinity was a stop on the project visit yet again, with boys eagerly snapping up sports equipment while girls were grateful for t-shirts, makeup gear and sunglasses, all brought along by the visitors from Germany, as were a steam cleaner and a tool kit for day-to-day work.

Perspective 

Ongoing projects include rehabilitation of a water mains in Chunikhel in the south of Kathmandu Basin and reconstruction of a school in Lubhu, also home of Shaligram Children’s House and Hans Kammerlander School.

What particularly impressed the visitors were insights into two facilities for the mentally and the physically handicapped. Support for these groups in Nepal is often limited, which is why Nepalhilfe would like to become more active in this respect in the future.

This, however, will only be possible if additional donations can be raised. After all, the organisation’s focus continues to be the final completion of the school replacing those destroyed in the earthquake.